(September 1999) [Printed in "Unpredictables" - a one-off fanzine for
the special Aussiecon 3 ANZAPA mailing.]

UNPREDICTABLES

A collection of predictions about the world at the
time of Aussiecon 4 (c.2010-2015 AD) prepared for ANZAPA Mailing
190 at the time of Aussiecon 3.

Democracy will continue to grow throughout the world because it will be
impossible to censor free expression. There will be the occasional vicious
bloodshed but even the most repressive governments will have begun to realise
that they are losing control over their
citizens, and will gradually retreat into the background to concentrate
on administrative tasks.

Computers will be made of funky coloured plastic and will cost $20. They
will fit into your pocket and be easier to use than a TV remote control.
Software will be modular, interacting and dead simple to upgrade. Windows(TM)
will die.

They will make instant coffee that tastes almost as good as the real
stuff.

People will have become so media-savvy that they will no longer fall
for advertising hype. Companies will be forced to use plain English and
to provide intelligent answers to questions from consumers.

Corporations will become less and less powerful as more and more of
the power to manufacture and to produce moves into the hands of technology-equipped
citizens. By 2010 most of the information you read will have been compiled
by groups of citizens.

They will present a Cartland Award each year for the best romantic
novel.

They will build fairly large scale homogeneous materials with nanotech
assembler technology. (But heterogeneous materials like wood and rumpsteak
will still be beyond our computational power to direct the assembly of.)

The Big News Story will be the detailed planning for the first trip
by humans to Mars. (They will live there.)

They will have found hundreds of extrasolar planets - including a few
dozen possibly earthlike ones. They will have begun to give them poetic
names. They will plunder the SF literature!

Aussiecon 4 will be held here, but there will be 'satellite-conventions'
in hotel rooms in other cities in the world. Fans in these countries will
watch discussion panels on high-definition videowalls, and will be able
to participate in question time. There will also be fannish activities
& online activities in all these cities. There will also be guests in
other countries participating in discussion panels through videoconferencing.
(Even when a World Con isn't taking place in your country and you can't
afford to travel - you will still be able to participate.)

Compiled by Michael F. Green in September
1999.
If any copies of this survive to around about 2010 - it should make
revealing reading at Aussiecon IV.All the Best to Everyone!